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Anamorphic lenses
An anamorphic lens squeezes the scene horizontally onto the sensor, and editing software stretches it back out. That round trip is what buys the extra-wide frame, the oval bokeh, and the streak flares. Pick a squeeze and watch all three.
Spherical (normal) lens
3:2 sensor × 1.0 = 3:2 image
Infrared note: an anamorphic is just glass, so it works on converted cameras, but hotspot and coating behavior in IR is untested territory. Test before a shoot, like any lens in the hotspot database.
Why these lenses exist
Anamorphic lenses were built for film: cropping a widescreen image out of a regular frame wastes most of the negative, so instead the lens squeezes a wide view onto the full frame and a matching stretch restores it in projection or in post. The same trick survives on digital because of the look that comes with it.
The aspect ratio math
Final width is simply sensor aspect times squeeze. This page uses a 3:2 stills sensor, so 1.5x gives 2.25:1 and 2x gives 3:1. The famous cinema numbers come from cinema sensors: a 2x squeeze on 4:3 delivers the 2.39:1 widescreen standard, and a 1.33x on 16:9 lands there too.
The signature side effects
Out-of-focus highlights render as vertical ovals instead of circles, and bright light sources smear into horizontal streaks. Both get stronger as the squeeze factor rises, which is why 2x glass has the most "cinema" in it.
Sources
In Depth Cine, Understanding anamorphic: 1.3x vs 1.5x vs 2x; Blazar Lens, What is anamorphic squeeze factor?. Reviewed June 2026.